# What the crap? Fish from nowhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077 "2004-07-14T15:12:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/1 "2004-07-14T15:12:21Z")
I live near a big hill which has an open field with tall grass around it. Some areas of this field are depressed slightly. It has no public path but is accessible, if you want to wade through the brush. In the springtime, I’ve noticed that these depressed areas fill up with rainwater, so much so that it becomes the size of a small pond. The grass underneath is quite thick and mats under the weight of the water, and so the water doesn’t really get a chance to sink into the ground. These “puddles”, once they get big enough, attract ducks and various other creatures. They usually are dried up completely by the end of the summer. This is totally weird, though: Yesterday evening I took a walk by one of these puddles to take some photos of the ducks and ducklings, and I was really surprised to see frogs (not toads, frogs) and MINNOWS in this water! (No, they weren’t tadpoles - but I did see tadpoles too). I don’t know how the frogs could have gotten there, since there are no rivers or swampy areas nearby…but the fish really stumped me. How can this occur? Or was I just hallucinating? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/2 "2004-07-14T16:24:33Z")
Not sure if this is applicable, but some fish can get swept up in funnel clouds and get deposited, live, in other places. I’d expect smaller fish like minnows are particularly prone to have this happen to them. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/3 "2004-07-14T16:32:19Z")
Some species of fish eggs tend to cling to the legs and feathers of aquatic fowl, only to be later deposited into a different body of water to hatch and start a new colony. ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/4 "2004-07-14T16:34:15Z")
Often the eggs of frogs and fish will get stuck to the bottom of ducks’ feet and redeposited when they move to a new location. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/5 "2004-07-14T16:34:53Z")
If ducks find the new pondlet, it’s quite reasonable that fish eggs might be transported in their feces, bits of plant life adhering to them, etc. Some tiny animal eggs (I have no specific information on fish) can be windborn. ---
**Author:** ![jsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/6 "2004-07-14T16:35:54Z")
D’oh, Cluricaun beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/7 "2004-07-14T16:38:21Z")
Some fish eggs are actually like spores, where they can survive when the water COMPLETELY dries up. When it fills up again, they hatch. I think these are pretty rare though, and the previously described theories in this thread are far more likely in your case. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/8 "2004-07-14T17:23:47Z")
Ahhh. Hitchhikers! Neato! Thanks for the answer(s). It’ll make for good trivia, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/9 "2004-07-14T17:33:09Z")
I just wanted to say that “Fish from Nowhere” is an excellent band name. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/10 "2004-07-14T21:31:02Z")
With their debut hit single _Was I Just Hallucinating?_, from the album _|Depressed Areas_. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/11 "2004-07-14T22:30:24Z")
\*\*Was I Just Hallucinating? \*\* by Fish From Nowhere \*I live near a big hill. open field with tall grass, no public path, wade through the brush. [CHORUS] This is totally weird, though: MINNOWS!! … … MINNOWS in this water! (No, they weren’t tadpoles) - ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/12 "2004-07-15T00:46:50Z")
Ta-da! Fish from nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/13 "2004-07-15T01:34:50Z")
I just wanted to mention that the presence of amphibians (frogs in this case) does not necessitate rivers or swampy areas nearby. Here is a link to an informative site on [vernal pools](http://www.vernalpool.org/vpinfo_1.htm) that describes two species of amphibian that lay their eggs in these pools but spend most of their lives in drier upland habitats. That site seems to be referring mostly to these pools as they exist in the Northeast United States…I don’t know what species might be present in your area. ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/14 "2004-07-15T03:06:28Z")
Here’s a thread from a couple months ago: [How do fish get into man made lakes?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=255719) ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/15 "2004-07-15T03:23:54Z")
Maybe they [walked](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0702_020702_snakehead.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/16 "2004-07-15T05:14:39Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Ta-da! > > Fish from nowhere. No, Fish, I’ve been to Olympia. It’s not exactly nowhere…per se. 😃 Oh, and some frogs and toads dig themselves into the ground and hibernate until the next rainy season. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-crap-fish-from-nowhere/255077/17 "2004-07-15T12:54:43Z")
LOL @ **h.sapiens** and **Mangetout**. 😃